As she left the doctor, walking away with heavy, tired steps, he looked after her, half pitying, half admiring.
"She has had some hard knocks to-day, poor child," he said to himself, "but she has plenty of sense and plenty of pluck. At any rate I hope so, for she will need both, I fancy, in the time that lies before her."
Kitty, making her way slowly up the stairs to Betty"s room and her own, was again impressed with that curious sensation of being some one else, of seeing everything for the first time. How strangely things came about, she thought. Here she was, back in her home again, as she had so often longed to be, but oh how different it was from what she had pictured--no joy in coming, no one to meet her, a stranger to welcome her, the house silent and strange. Could it be really she, Kitty Trenire, walking alone up the old, wide, familiar staircase as though she had never gone away or known that brief spell of school life?
Could she really be come back to her own again, as mistress of her father"s house? It seemed so--for a time, at any rate. Kitty felt very serious, and full of awe at the thought, and as she slowly mounted the dear old stairs a little very eager, if unspoken, prayer went up from her heavy heart.
Then she reached the door of her room and Betty"s, and knocked.
"Who is there?" demanded Betty"s voice. "Me. Kitty."
"Kitty What, Kitty! Oh--h--h!" There was a rush across the room, then a pause. "I--I don"t think you had better come in," gasped Betty.
"You"ll never want to see me again if you do."
"Don"t be silly. Why, Betty, whatever has happened?" cried Kitty, as she opened the door and stepped into an almost perfectly dark room.
"Are you ill?"
"No," miserably, "I wish I was, then p"r"aps you"d be sorry; and if I was to die you might forgive me, but you can"t unless I do die."
"O Betty, what _have_ you done?" cried Kitty, growing quite alarmed.
"Is she--is she dead?" asked Betty in an awful whisper.
"Who? Poor Aunt Pike? No; Dr. Yearsley told me she is just ever so slightly better."
"Oh!" gasped Betty, a world of relief in her sigh, "I _am_ so glad.
Then I ain"t a--a murderess--at least not yet. I"ve been afraid to ask, and n.o.body came to tell me, and I--O Kitty, it was I made her tumble down like that in a fit or something, and I was _so_ frightened.
I will never tell any one anything any more."
"You will tell me what it was that you told Aunt Pike that upset her so?"
"I don"t think I can," said Betty. "You will hate me so, and so will father--that is why I wanted to hide for ever from all of you; but,"
with sudden indignation, "that silly old "Rover" brought me back. Oh, it was dreadful!"
"What was?" asked Kitty patiently. She knew Betty"s roundabout way of telling a story, and waited. "What did you tell Aunt Pike? Do tell me, Betty dear. I ought to know before I see her."
Betty dropped on to the window-seat and covered her face with her hands.
"Don"t look at me; I don"t want to see you look mad with me. It was Aunt Pike"s fault first of all. If she hadn"t said nasty--oh, horrid things about you, I shouldn"t have told her what I did, but--but she made me, Kitty; I couldn"t help it, and--and I told her right out that Anna could have cleared you long ago, and that she and Lettice were mean and dishonourable to let you bear the blame for them all this time.
And when she spoke after that, her voice sounded so--oh, so dreadful, as if she was talking in her sleep, or was far away, or drowning, and she looked--oh, her face frightened me, and then she said, "Did--Anna-- know?" all slow and gaspy like that, as if she hadn"t any breath, and I said "Yes"--I _had_ to say "yes" then, hadn"t I? Of course I didn"t know it would make her ill, but she fell right down, all of a heap, and oh, I nearly died of fright, and I ran and ran all the way to Wenmere Woods, and I meant never to come back again--never! And it was all Mrs.
Henderson"s fault that I did come--at least Mrs. Henderson"s and b.u.mble"s, and," drawing herself up with great dignity, "I am never going to speak to either of them again. When I had had my tea--she gave me cream and jam, but not any ham--and when I had played about for a little while, she told me she thought I had better be going home, as I was alone; and at last I had to tell her I was never going home any more, and I would be her little servant, if she would take me, only no one must ever see me, or I should be discovered, but she wasn"t a bit nice as she generally is. She said, "Oh, nonsense; little girls mustn"t talk like that. I am going to Gorlay to chapel, and I will take you back with me."
"Then I knew it wasn"t any good to ask her to help me, and that I must sleep in the wood with all the wild beasts and things"--Betty"s face and her story grew more and more melodramatic--"and as soon as she had gone to put on her bonnet, I ran into the woods for my life. I expect when she came down again and didn"t see me she thought I had gone home.
I don"t think anybody went to look for me, and I think it was very unkind of them, for I might have been eaten up, for all they knew, by wild beasts--"
"Oh no," said Kitty, rousing for the first time from the shock and distress Betty"s revelations had thrown her into. "There is nothing in the woods more savage than rabbits and squirrels."
Betty looked hurt. "Oh yes, there is," she protested, "or I shouldn"t have gone up and kept close to the railway lines. I saw something, quite large, staring at me with great savage eyes, and if it wasn"t a wolf, I am sure it was a badger or--or a wild-cat."
"Did it fly at you?"
"No, but it looked at me as if it wanted to, and I ran until I came to the railway; and after a long time, when it was nearly dark, I saw some red lights coming and heard a noise, and that was the "Rover." I--I didn"t like the woods at night, so I went up and shouted and signalled to Dumble, and asked him if he knew anybody who wanted a servant, "cause I"d left home for good, and wanted a "place." I didn"t tell him who I was, and I thought he wouldn"t know me. After he had thought for a minute or two, he said yes, he reckoned he could put me in a good "place," if I"d come along of him. So I got up in the carriage--I had it all to myself--and oh it was lovely going along in the dark and seeing the fire come out of the funnel! But," growing very serious and dignified again, "I consider Dumble the _most_ dishonourable man I _ever_ met, and I"ll _never_ speak to him again--_never_; and I"ll _have_ to leave Gorlay "cause I can"t never meet him again, for he ackshally took me up in his arms when the "Rover" stopped at the wharf, and--well, I was rather sleepy and I didn"t see where I was going, but of course I _trusted_ him, and when I opened my eyes--why, I was home!
Oh, I was _so_ angry I didn"t know what to do, and I"m never going to speak to Dumble again. I hope I never see him."
The corners of Kitty"s mouth twitched, but she did not dare to laugh.
"I expect he thought he was doing right," she said excusingly.
"He couldn"t have helped you to run away; he would have been sent to jail. And oh, Betty, I am so glad you did come home; there is trouble enough without losing you too. I was so frightened about you all the way down in the train--"
"Did you get my letter?"
"Yes; it was that that brought me. I didn"t know anything about Aunt Pike until I got to Gorlay Station."
Betty crept over from her window-seat and stood by Kitty as she sat on her little bed. "Kitty, do you hate me for telling that to Aunt Pike?"
"Hate you!" cried Kitty. "As though I ever could, dear. I am sorry she was told--but--but I know you couldn"t help it, Bet. I couldn"t have myself if it had been you, and she had said unkind things about you."
Then Betty flung her arms about Kitty"s neck and began to sob heavily.
"I do love you so, Kitty! I do. I really do. I think you are the splendidest girl in all the world, and--and I"ll never do anything to make you sorry any more, if I can help it."
Kitty held her little sister very tightly to her, and with Betty"s head resting on her breast, and her cheek laid on Betty"s curly head, they talked, but talk too intimate to be repeated.
At last Kitty got up. "Where"s Tony?" she asked. "I have to find each of you separately, and it seems as if I shall never see all, I want to stay so long with each. Betty, where is Tony? He is all right, isn"t he?"
"Oh yes. He went to try and make Anna stop screaming, and I think he has done it. I haven"t heard her for a long time."
Kitty made her way to Anna"s room, and tapped gently at the door.
At first there was no reply, then through the keyhole came a whisper.
"Who is there? You must be very quiet, please. Anna is asleep."
It was Tony"s voice, but by the time Kitty had opened the door he was back on his chair by Anna"s sofa, waving a fan gently, as he had been doing for so long that his poor little arms and back ached. His face was very flushed and weary-looking, but his eyes glanced up bright with satisfaction.
"She is gone to sleep, she"ll be better now;" but at sight of Kitty the fan was dropped and Anna forgotten, and nurse Tony flew across the room and into his sister"s arms.
"Oh, I"m so glad! oh, I"m so glad!" he said again and again and again.
"There wasn"t anybody but me and Dr. Yearsley, and I was frightened "cause I didn"t know what to do, and everything seemed wrong. I wish daddy was home; but it won"t be so bad now you are here," and he snuggled into her arms with a big, big sigh of relief, and put his little hot hands up continually to pat her face and convince himself that she had not vanished again. And thus they sat, held in each other"s arms and watching the sleeping Anna, until the handle was gently turned, and Betty appeared in the door-way. A very pale, weary Betty she looked now she was away from her own darkened room.
"Kitty, Dr. Yearsley is looking for you. I think Aunt Pike is awake and asking for you." Then, as Kitty hurried past her, "He says she is a little better, only ever so little; but it is good news, isn"t it? She will get well, won"t she, Kitty? Oh, do say "yes,"" and Betty, who had never before bestowed any love or thought on her aunt, had as much as she could do to keep her tears back.
It was a very nervous, trembling Kitty who presently entered the large, dim bedroom where Aunt Pike, so helpless and dependent now, lay very still and white on her bed. Kitty almost shrank back as she first caught sight of her, half fearing the change she should see. But the only change in the face she had once so dreaded was the expression.
When Dr. Yearsley bent over her, and said cheerfully, "Here she is; here is Kitty," the white lids lifted slowly, and Aunt Pike"s eyes looked at her as they had never looked before. Kitty went over very close to her, and kissed her.
"I am so sorry," she said sympathetically, "that you are ill, Aunt Pike, but so glad you are a little, just a little bit better."
Mrs. Pike did not answer her; she seemed to have something on her mind that she must speak of, and she could grasp nothing else. "I--I have been--very--unjust--to you," she gasped, speaking with the greatest difficulty. "You--should--have--told me."
"No, no," said Kitty eagerly, bending and kissing her again, "you haven"t. You didn"t know. I meant you never to know."
"Anna--knew. She--should--"
Kitty bent down, speaking eagerly. "Anna did more for me--for us all.